The Golden State Warriors may have a secret weapon in their upcoming playoff matchup with the Houston Rockets, as Texas teams tend to lose when Senator Ted Cruz attends games, and Houston fans are urging him to stay home to avoid the “Cruz curse.”
It’s now NBA playoffs time of year, and your Golden State Warriors tip off their first-round matchup with the Houston Rockets on Sunday (6:30 pm, TNT). And despite the Rockets having a much better record, the oddsmakers favor the Warriors, maybe because of the Rockets’ youth and the Warriors’ playoff experience. Or they might be picking the Warriors because of an off-court issue, an issue that’s right off the court.
Texas sports fans have a superstition, that both their pro and college teams tend to lose when Texas senator and possible Zodiac Killer Ted Cruz shows up to root them on. And as SFGate reports, Houston fans are pleading with Cruz to not attend the Rockets’ games because of what they call “the Cruz curse.”
U.S. Senator Ted Cruz has made an appearance at the Final Four championship game, despite fans claiming that when the Texas senator attends the game for the team he is rooting for, they are "cursed" and lose the game. https://t.co/GkI0hwmUqz pic.twitter.com/ZclHt8dMhh
— Houston Chronicle (@HoustonChron) April 8, 2025
The most recent example of this came just last week, when the Houston Cougars lost the March Madness championship game with Cruz in attendance (a fan petition had begged him to not show up). This comes after Cruz’s presence coincided with the Texas Longhorns' loss to the Washington Huskies in the NCAA college football semi-final in 2024, the Houston Astros’ World Series loss later that same year, and a series of other losses with Ted Cruz in the house.
Don't worry about the refs when there's a bigger problem
byu/Brilliant_Mouse76 inrockets
SFGate reached out to the author of the Reddit post above. “He has every right to root for whoever he wants to, but his presence at stadiums or arenas has become problematic,” that author Jay Suayan told the site. “It’s not something where the Onion would put out like, ‘Ted Cruz caused this team to lose,’ but as the past decade or so has revealed, it’s taken on a life of its own.
Gosh, leftie trolls and sports writers sure have short memories. Just I few months ago, I was happily collecting on my World Series wager: https://t.co/wOLxnbw4Pg https://t.co/2ccwAzzMlt
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) May 29, 2018
One reason it's taken on a life of its own is that Cruz himself is so defensive about it, often taking to social media with blistering, unprofessional attacks on any media outlet that dare cover the Cruz curse.
And your Golden State Warriors have experience with this Cruz curse. In 2018, they beat the Rockets in a decisive Game 7 of a Western Conference Finals. Cruz was in attendance for that game.
Related: Ted Cruz's Tweets About Democrats Causing California's Blackouts Come Back to Haunt Him [SFist]
Image: NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 08: Ted Cruz is seen at the 2024 US Open Tennis Championships on September 08, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Gotham/GC Images)
